'Alice Walker in this, the most beautiful, the most compassionate, the most sensuous of novels, has created a masterpiece. It is one of the most life-enhancing novels you could hope to read. Flawless' Mary Louden, THE TIMES

'All your life you have the necessary illusion that you know all there is to know about heartbreak. I hate to the one to tell you about the heartbreak you will experience after you die . . .'

A family goes to the remote sierras of Mexico - the writer-to--be Susannah; her sister Magdalena; their father and mother. There, amid indigenous people called the Mundo, they begin an encounter that will change them more than they ever could have dreamed. This is a deeply sensual novel that explores the richness of female sexuality as a celebration of life, affirming the belief 'that it is the triumphant heart, not the conquered heart, that forgives. And that love is both timeless and beyond'.

A timely, meditative book reasserting the power of the individual, from the author of THE COLOR PURPLE.

'It is the worst of times. It is the best of times. Try as I might I cannot find a more appropriate opening for this volume'

Terrorist attacks, natural disasters such as the Asian tsunami and the flooding of New Orleans, the reality of global warming, ongoing warfare in Iraq and the de-stabilisation of the Middle East - sometimes the future can seem bleak, if not frightening. Yet this is not a pessimistic book. Taking a line from the poet June Jordan who said 'We are the Ones we have been waiting for' - Alice Walker reasserts the power of the individual in making political change happen. In short, we can 'fix things' by focusing on what we share as human beings rather than what separates us.

Looking at subjects as diverse as sending our children to war, the rich/poor divide, Nature, the I Ching, modern gender roles, women in the military, and even a piece on her dog Marley, Alice Walker looks towards an optimistic view of the future through a more intuitive understanding of the self and the world around us.

The first collection of Alice Walker's non-fiction spanning fifteen years in the career of this remarkable writer.

This collection of essays is a celebration of the legacy of creativity - especially the rich vein of women's stories and spirituality through the ages and how they nourish the present.

Alice Walker traces the umbilical thread linking writers through history - from her discovery of Zora Neale Hurston and her collections of black folklore, to the work of Jean Toomer, Buchi Emecheta and Flannery O'Connor. She also looks back at the highs and lows of the civil rights movement, her early political development, and the place of women's traditions in art.

Coining the expression 'womanist prose', these are essays that value women's culture and strength, and the handing on of the creative spark from one generation to another.

Abducted from Africa, sold in America.

“A deeply affecting record of an extraordinary life”- Daily Telegraph

A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a foreword from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker.

This account illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade.

In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, just outside Mobile, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis, who was abducted from Africa on the last "Black Cargo" ship to arrive in the United States. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was then the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation’s history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo’s firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.

In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African-centric community three miles from Mobile founded by Cudjo and other former slaves from his ship. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo’s past—memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilda, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War.

Based on those interviews, featuring Cudjo’s unique vernacular, and written from Hurston’s perspective with the compassion and singular style that have made her one of the preeminent American authors of the twentieth-century, Barracoon masterfully illustrates the tragedy of slavery and of one life forever defined by it. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this poignant and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.

'A modern take on the Odyssey in which it is Penelope who wanders far from home before returning to her Odysseus' Sunday Telegraph

Kate has always been a wanderer. A well-published author, married several times, she has lived a life full of exploration. Now, as she begins to feel the first ravages of age, she wants to find a new sense of meaning. She leaves her lover Yolo on a journey down the Colorado river - a journey that will force her to re-explore her past and her future, and her connection to the real world. On her travels she meets shamans and the mysterious spiritual world of the native Indian.

Yolo too begins his own journey as he travels to Hawaii and meets a former lover whose life is being destroyed by the excesses of American society. As Kate and Yolo gain shifting insights into the world around them, will their paths diverge or lead back to each other? This is a novel very much in tune with the zeitgeist - Alice Walker argues that we need to look inwards and develop a more open attitude in order to combat the pervasive climate of fear and distrust.

The second novel written by Alice Walker, preceding THE COLOUR PURPLE is a heartfelt and moving story about one woman's personal revolution as she joins the Civil Rights Movement.

Set in the American South in the 1960s it follows Meridian Hill, a courageous young woman who dedicates herself heart and soul to her civil rights work, touching the lives of those around her even as her own health begins to deteriorate. Hers is a lonely battle, but it is one she will not abandon, whatever the costs.

This is classic Alice Walker, beautifully written, intense and passionate.

This gritty, sweeping novel follows a burgeoning political activist in the early twentieth century: a "precious, priceless book" (Alice Walker).

"We owe our world to women like Agnes Smedley, who worked without peace or resolution toward a future they could not see." —Paola Mendoza

First released in 1929, Daughter of Earth remains a seminal work of American socialist literature. This semiautobiographical account of an early twentieth-century activist describes growing up in rural poverty in farming settlements and mining towns; discovering the double standards of race and sex among East Coast intellectuals; facing false espionage charges; and maintaining her independence through two tormented marriages.

Groundbreaking in its portrayal of sexism within the leftist movement, Daughter of Earth was uniquely prescient in its intersectional exploration of oppression, demanding that progressive movements embody political justice with integrity and introspection.

'A romance of the last 500,000 years' from the Pulitzer prize winning author of THE COLOR PURPLE.

A visionary cast of characters weave together their past and present in a brilliantly intricate tapestry of tales.It is the story of the dispossessed and displaced, of peoples whose history is ancient and whose future is yet to come.

Here we meet Lissie, a woman of many pasts; Arveyda the great guitarist and his Latin American wife who has had to flee her homeland; Suwelo, the history teacher, and his former wife Fanny who has fallen in love with spirits. Hovering tantalisingly above their stories are Miss Celie and Shug, the beloved characters from THE COLOUR PURPLE.

Alice Walker's powerful first novel.

Alice Walker's first book recounts the lives of three generations growing up in Georgia, where the author herself grew up. Grange Copeland is a black tenant farmer who is forced to leave his land and family in search of a better future. He heads North but discovers that the racism and poverty he experienced in the South are, in fact, everywhere. When he returns to Georgia years later he finds that his son Brownfield has been imprisoned for the murder of his wife. But hope comes in the form of the third generation as the guardian of the couple's youngest daughter, Grange Copeland, who glimpses a chance of both spiritual and social freedom.

Um clássico da literatura. Um importante manifesto.

Um clássico da literatura americana, aclamado pela crítica e amado por sucessivas gerações de leitores. Tão relevante hoje quanto no ano da sua publicação, é uma extraordinária peça de ficção que combate o ódio, a desigualdade e a violência, ao mesmo tempo que celebra o amor pela vida.

«Uma exuberante celebração do que significa ser mulher.» Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Celie, de 14 anos, escreve cartas a Deus para tentar compreender o que lhe está a acontecer. Órfã de mãe, abusada pelo homem a quem chama "pai", separada da irmã, Netie, privada dos dois filhos e oferecida em casamento a um homem que a maltrata, considera-se «uma negra, pobre e feia". Até que conhece Sugar, a amante do marido. Com a ajuda de Sugar, «a mulher mais linda» que ela viu na vida, Celie descobre não só o paradeiro da irmã desaparecida mas também o próprio corpo, o prazer, o amor e, acima de tudo, a sua voz.

Romance epistolar composto pelas cartas que Celie endereça a Deus com uma honestidade brutal e pelos relatos de viagem que Nettie lhe envia de uma missão em África, A Cor Púrpura aborda temas como a violência brutal a que estavam sujeitas as mulheres negras no início do século XX, a relação dos negros com o seu passado de escravatura, e a busca do espiritual num mundo cruel e sem sentido.

Galardoado com o prémio Pulitzer e com o National Book Award para o melhor livro de ficção, A Cor Púrpura foi adaptado ao cinema em 1985 por Steven Spielberg e nomeado para 11 Óscares.

Os elogios da crítica:
«Alice Walker é uma escritora maravilhosamente talentosa.»
The New York Times Book Review

«A cor púrpura coloca Walker á altura de Faulkner.»
The Nation

«Um romance sempre em vigor.»
Newsweek

«Óptimo. Um livro para colocar entre os clássicos da literatura de todos os tempos.»
San Francisco Chronicle

«Um livro que genuinamente nos faz pensar.»
Guardian

«Uma fábula para o mundo moderno.»
Washington Post

«Um livro impressionante e brilhantemente concebido. . . uma saga cheia de alegria e dor, humor e amargura, e uma série de personagens que vivem, respiram e iluminam o mundo das mulheres negras.»
Publishers Weekly

«A cor púrpura é uma celebração exuberante de tudo o que significa ser mulher, ser uma mulher negra e gostar das melhores celebrações, é honesta. A honestidade de Alice Walker neste livro é combativa, implacável e redentora. É dessa honestidade que surge a amargura e, no entanto, a amargura nunca macula a humanidade da visão de Walker. Adoro que A cor púrpura não tente amenizar seus golpes, mas também seja corajoso o suficiente para manter uma fé maravilhosamente afirmativa na possibilidade, no perdão, na bondade e na esperança.